How the military is dealing with Kegbreath's order to remove transgender troops

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The military services scrambled Friday to nail down details and put together new guidance to start removing transgender troops from the force.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a memo released late Thursday, reinstated orders issued earlier this year that said “expressing a false gender identity divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."

His new order gives active-duty troops until June 6 to identify themselves as transgender and voluntarily begin to leave the service. National Guard and Reserve troops have until July 7.

Army Maj. Alivia Stehlik, who served in the infantry and is now a physical therapist, will be eligible to retire in three years but doesn’t want to be forced out for being a transgender service member.

“I still have a job to do,” she said. “My command expects me to show up and be an officer and do my job because I’m the only person at my unit who can do what I do.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/military-dealing-hegseths-order-remove-203747095.html

[Skittles]

1. orders from Cadet Bonespurs and Pete Kegseth

fucking RIDICULOUS

[3825-87867]

2. Nope!

Orders from the Opus Dei (DEI -ironic, heh hehe , eh?) portion of Heritage F's Project 2025

[rgbecker]

3. Ok, to be sure, I'm not transgender and have no idea about any of the issues.....But

Last edited Sat May 10, 2025, 10:41 PM - Edit history (1)

If I liked the Army and wanted to stay in to complete my service and get my 20 years and retire with benefits....I'd simply tell the fuckers what they want to hear and I go with my "birth" sex and let them sort what they would do with me. On what grounds would/could they fire me then?

Just asking.

[eggplant]

5. Ok, a few things here.

Transsexual is considered an offensive term. The proper term is transgender.

When you say "I'd simply..." and "just asking", you are suggesting that such a thing is trivial. It's not.

How would you feel if you had to live your life opposite to your gender? Every day? For years? How would that affect your ability to form or continue personal relationships? We're not talking about just faking things in public, but every waking moment, even in private.

What if you were required to convert to a different religion? Adopt unfamiliar rules? Dress differently? Pray differently?

What if you were required to adopt different sexual preferences? Pretend to be attracted to people you're really not?

There is a reason that suicide is much more common when people have to live a lie. It takes a huge toll on you. And if your life and career demands it, then what are your choices?

The military desegregated and didn't collapse. Including women in the ranks didn't cause it to collapse. Being gay (and out) didn't cause it to collapse. Being transgender didn't either.

So, no, it's not simple. It's mean and serves only to punch down on a minority. For absolutely zero legitimate reason.

[rgbecker]

6. Thanks Eggplant.

I'm so sorry if you think I, for one minute, support what Hegseth and MAGA are doing here about Transgender people in the military. I hope there is a change of course, but in the meantime, People are going to have to deal with what is handed down from above...in this case from those in charge at the Pentagon right now. I'm offended that you think the issue is trivial. For whatever reasons, I don't have to deal with any of the issues you have outlined, but that doesn't mean I don't feel for those that do, on a daily basis I'm hearing everything you are saying about the plight of transgender people and I'm sure there are many who would not for one second consider denying their identity just to stay in the service. On the other hand, isn't it possible that when a transgender person serving in the military considers his/her options that the possibility of just laying it on the Pentagon's table to sort out might work a solution to an otherwise destroyed career? Wouldn't continued service until full retirement be a "legitimate reason" to try that out?

When I was in the service, I found myself doing a lot of things I otherwise wouldn't consider doing for a minute just to get along and get my time over with.

I was trying to imagine what the response would be by those who are supposed to enforce the Transgender band if rather than quietly leave the service, many were to deny their transition during their duty hours or whatever would be required to stay the course. You seem knowledgeable on this subject, do you know any data about how many in the services have transitioned from Male to Female vs. Female to Male? I've seen the total percentage of transgender service members out of all that serve is quite small, less than 1% I believe I read.

[eggplant]

7. I think you are still missing my point.

I'm not suggesting that you support anything. I'm suggesting that your tone and phrasing make it seem like you don't see this issue as a big deal. I'm a white cis male. I would never tell someone of any minority group how they should behave to get along. I would never suggest that just because their daily issues don't affect me personally that they aren't real or significant. Forcing people to deny who they are is abuse. Punishing them for who they are is abuse. Denying that there is a serious issue here is also abuse.

"deny their transition during their duty hours": it doesn't work like that. It would be a lie, everyone would know it is a lie, and out they go. More to the point, those members of the military who have already declared themselves transgender don't get to magically walk it back. It's already in their record.

"doing a lot of things I otherwise wouldn't consider doing": it doesn't work like that either. It's telling them to BE something they wouldn't consider BEING. It's not an affectation or a behavior.

Transgenderism isn't about how you look. It's who you are. And more to the point, these are perfectly capable service members just doing their job. If Hegseth wants to throw out all the brown eyed service members, they could wear color contacts 24/7 but why? What exactly is the problem that needs to be fixed?

This order is just one more way that this administration is subjugating anyone who isn't a white cis male. The military is supposed to lead, not pander. Whenever they do, it turns out to be wrong. Remember "don't ask, don't tell?" It was just as stupid as what they are doing with this order.

[TommyT139]

8. Numbers are tricky to estimate

Estimates of how many active duty service members are trans vary quite a bit, because of definitions, methodology, what organization is asking, and what time period. The numbers seem to fall between 0.4% and 0.6% in data sets collected between 2014 and 2024. This article sort of summarizes the few studies that have tried to assess numbers.
https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-transgender-personnel-serve-us-military-2021578 (Article published January 2025)

Why would numbers vary so widely? Before trans folks could serve openly, numbers came from a few larger scale surveys (the national trans survey, 2014, especially) which were thus retrospective; or from a few trusted medical providers (eg. George Brown, Jillian Shepherd) and veterans' networks. After Trump 1, the Biden administration encouraged trans people to be out, yet it is understandable if some were reticent, having just been through the first four Trump years, which had come after the initial welcoming of trans service members after the Rand study was released and approved under Ash Carter. Back and forth, back and forth!

Also, the count would likely vary because in the early years of initial trans acceptance (or at least tolerance), someone might disclose being trans to their chain of command only if/when seeking medical transition (hormones, surgery). Later, during the Biden administration's more explicit encouragement, someone might disclose being trans even if they were not (or not yet) seeking medical interventions. As far as FTM vs. MTF, those numbers could differ from the US population because of who was already serving, and also who could manage dysphoria before disclosing in order to feel more comfortable and thus serve more effectively. General population numbers seem to be roughly evenly divided, albeit with age cohorts affected by different factors.

I hope that's somewhat helpful. And just to comment on how you came across, I didn't hear anything disrespectful in how you phrased your question. (Speaking as a long time man of trans experience, who has worked in trans public health education and direct services.) And while it is certainly not the broadest preferred term these days, some of us absolutely do use the word "transsexual" in referring to ourselves, in particular as a subset of transgender people as a whole. It's best to go with "transgender" and be open to clues or individual preferences if that doesn't fit for a person.

Besides that, in general I agree with the commenter above, that to try to hide being trans until separating from the service would range from impacting your daily performance negatively; to being unbearable in ways that it's hard to convey to non trans people. There are some good first person videos and I think a documentary or two online -- if I can dig up the specifics I'm glad to post them if you want.

[Hekate]

4. What a bloody waste of training and talent